Country wise supports aged care in regional Australia

A NEW CAMPAIGN FROM STANDARDS WISE AUSTRALIA

The Australian Bureau of Statistics data reveal that there is a large portion of older Australians living in rural and remote areas where healthcare is impacted due to limited accessibility to a skilled workforce combined with significant budget constraints. Now Country Wise—a new campaign from Standards Wise Australia (SWA)—is digging deep into the legendary Australian spirit of regional and remote communities, to get individuals working together and provide better health outcomes for the community.

Country Wise is designed to harness the collective willpower, tenacity, know-how, experience, and resources of health and aged care providers around regional and remote areas of Australia.

Our aim is to enable and support aged care providers to create a collaborative and effective system to ensure they can remain operational to support their local communities.

The initiative aims to assist aged care and health providers to create a more sustainable model for ageing services and achieve health outcomes in the face of significant fiscal stress, fragmentation, migration of younger people and the skilled workforce, and disillusionment of the community—enabling older people to age well in rural and remote areas.

We strive to encourage local facilities to pool their ideas and resources and promote succeeding together rather than struggling alone. We do not want local residents to be displaced from communities; we want to ensure it is possible to stay within their region.

It is vital for our regional and remote communities that services for older people flourish and become more sustainable to avoid concentration of services in metropolitan areas, forcing dislocation of older people from their chosen communities.

Community sovereignty is important to preserve, recognising the tremendous effort made by community members over

decades, to have services for older people in the form of aged care facilities, allied health and community services in the local area.

Going forward this will encompass the development of a regional approach rather than specific locales in order for services for older people to thrive, but the solution for each region needs to balance the distribution of services so that there is equity of access and the optimal use of resources.

Country Wise strives to promote the idea that success will be more certain if aged care providers in different districts work together as one. The campaign will encourage the initiation of a collaborative program—identifying gaps, filling these gaps, and encouraging sharing knowledge between facilities.

The anticipated benefits of this campaign include: developing better efficiencies in the use of finite personnel and physical resources or sites; retaining the existing skilled workforce and developing succession planning; improving integrated care systems between health, aged and community care, allied health, and auxiliary services to benefit consumers; expanding job opportunities for young people to remain in rural and remote areas; and developing a much ‘leaner’ approach to governance and management services for a more sustainable model of ageing and wellbeing services.

Standards Wise Australia is an organisation with considerable experience in rural and remote areas that can support providers through change with a practical strategy and roadmap to ensure there is a sustainable framework in place to keep these communities thriving well into the future.

Aged care facilities and community care services provide invaluable employment to the region they are in, and are valued customers for local businesses. In some cases, they are the main form of income for local towns and enable the consumers and the members of the community to maintain their family connections and stay close to the area they love and know so well.

We encourage all aged providers operating in regional areas to find out more about Country Wise and actively engage with this collaborative model of working.

Jess Martin is Engagements & Marketing Officer, Standards Wise Australia. For more information visit www.standardswise.com.au/ projects

AMH Aged Care Companion Companion

The AMH Aged Care Companion is a trusted, practical reference for all health professionals and carers who work with older people. It contains the latest evidence-based information on the management of more than 70 conditions common in older people. The current release includes a number of changes. Updated topics including behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD), epilepsy, heart failure, immunisation, type 2 diabetes and urinary tract infections to name a few. Available in book or online. For further information or to purchase go to www.amh.net.au

Dear Friend,

I hope this letter finds you well. It has been a little while since I reached out and we directly caught up – having that personal connection is something that I have missed greatly during these challenging times and I’m sure you have too. No one likes to see their friends (and your staff) stressed, your viability or compliance obligations challenged and it’s for these reasons I thought it so important to check in and see how you are doing? In writing to you today I also wanted to share with you how my organisation has recently supported a large number of aged care providers across Australia, just like yours, in securing their ACFI funding entitlements and helping them ensure their compliance obligations are met. All of this is underpinned by our philosophy and method of using our clinical expertise to build each facility’s internal clinical capabilities and knowledge. Sustainability of your organisation is our focus. One of our most obvious assets is that we do this for providers all across Australia so our learnings and experience can be passed on to you and your staff as it applies to your organisation. Although the challenges each home experiences can often be somewhat similar, your individual needs are unique. In working with so many aged care providers all around Australia, we know what is and isn’t happening in the broader industry. This means you and your team can be cross-skilled by our team with the latest information, developments and trends. In meeting with us you can learn of Health Generation’s philosophy and approach to supporting the aged care industry. A team of over 50 expert

clinicians with a flexible, hands on and people focused approach that comes from a place of support and not judgement. Although there may not be an immediate need or the timing feels like it’s not quite right, the reality is that there is no greater value than knowing what support mechanisms you have available to you should a need arise in the future. We are finding that with the ever-changing landscape of our industry, these needs are best understood through meeting with you regularly, even if you may feel entirely confident in dealing with your present challenges. It’s important that you reach out, it’s important that I continue to reach out to you. By exploring these pressures and challenges we can develop individual solutions on how we can support you. I genuinely want to be there for you.